Kansas Election Roundtable: Ads Ads Ads, Excited Voters, High Stakes

Campaign spending is super high. Voter registration in Kansas is hitting records. And it's not just the governor's race that's going down to the wire.

The Kansas News Service team looks at last-minute ads, considers candidates' closing arguments, and what voters might be excited about going into Election Day.

Listen

Listening...

/

4:50

Follow Jim McLean on Twitter @jmcleanks. Madeline Fox @maddycfox, and Stephen Koranda @kprkoranda and tune in for live updates from the Kansas News Service starting at 7 p.m. on Election Night on KCUR in Kansas City, Kansas Public Radio in Lawrence, KMUW in Wichita and High Plains Public Radio in Garden City.

Related Content

Incumbent Republican Congressman Kevin Yoder and his challenger, Democrat Sharice Davids, faced off in a debate on Tuesday afternoon, just a week ahead of the midterm election.

Both are vying for a seat in the Kansas 3rd congressional district, and Tuesday's debate was the first time the candidates had met in person. Yoder called attention to this in his opening statement, accusing Davids of skipping debates.

The slugfest for the open Kansas 2nd District Congressional seat remains tight heading into the final days of the campaign.

The latest results from polling by the New York Times and Siena College showed Democrat Paul Davis with a 41 percent to 37 percent lead over Republican Steve Watkins, with 16 percent of voters still undecided.

Two of the top three campaigns for Kansas governor are relying heavily on a single source of cash: their own money.

The last major campaign reports filed before next week’s election revealed that, in the last three months, Kris Kobach’s running mate accounted for nearly half the money hauled in by the Republican candidate.

Kelly cashes in

Democratic state Sen. Laura Kelly raised the most money by a wide margin, pulling in almost $1 million more than Kobach. During the period from July 27 to Oct. 25, Kelly received $2.3 million.

Election Day will be here before you know it. It’s like finals week in your civic life.

So when Tuesday, Nov. 6, arrives, you’ll be ready, right? Because you’ve been cramming by reading up on all the candidates, watching every debate, scouring candidate websites for position papers, of course.